


What Just Happened?

by VelvetSky



Series: Complications [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Light Angst, Unresolved Romantic Tension, pre-Bucky Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-02-23 02:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 16,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13180029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelvetSky/pseuds/VelvetSky
Summary: Things get very complicated for Steve and Darcy. And some weird stuff happens.





	1. All Work & No Play

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series.
> 
> No Beta. Only reread by me a few times. No doubt mistakes remain.
> 
> Also, at some point of this series, Bucky will be involved in a Steve/Darcy/Bucky way. In case some people are not interested in that, they can steer away now.
> 
> Chapter lengths on this story are very variable, probably more so than normal for me. Some are rather short, some are longer. None are especially long though. But just an fyi, not all chapters are of similar lengths. Most chapters are basically a scene.

They finally did finish The Sound of Music after their next workout. A few more workouts followed over a few weeks, often with a movie after, or some music. Trying to cross things off Steve's list. Each time they sat close, and Steve forgot for a little while about the rest of his life. A few hours where he was just drawn into her and whatever they were doing together. It was a wonderful, if brief, diversion. He did perhaps need it. It kept him from drowning in constant worries about what would need Avengers attention next, or where the next, usually highly unfruitful, lead on Bucky would come from. The number of leads they got was actually fair, but the number of those that actually lead to any useful information on Bucky, or where he was, was shockingly low. Actually the same could be said of tips for Avengers help. They followed up on everything, but most turned out to be things better suited to local law enforcement, or sometimes animal control, than Avengers. The raccoons in someone's crawl space that somehow convinced the person there was an alien being living under their house.

The credits were starting to roll on Indiana Jones, which Steve had enjoyed, and Darcy had seen before, but liked watching again. "That one was definitely fun."

"Right, good action, a bit of wit." Darcy grinned, it wasn't too late, "should we try for another?"

Steve turned to glance at the time, "I probably shouldn't. I've got to check on a couple things, and depending what comes up, I might be out for a few days or more."

"Okay, well, when you're done with all that, we'll do another one." Darcy smiled lightly and shifted to stand up and start cleaning up their snack assortment.

"That would be good. I'll probably be in need of some distraction at that point." Steve just watched her for a moment before moving to pick up the rest of their stuff and helping her load the dishwasher.

"I'm always happy to help distract you. What I do know of what you all do here, Avenger work sounds crazy." Darcy had picked some things up. The more she worked with Tony, the more she caught tidbits of mission reports, as well as strange tips they got that they had to follow up on, that weren't always much of anything.

"It can be." Steve nodded leaning a little on the counter as she set the washer and it started working.

"You definitely need to take breathers in between all that stuff. All work and no play, and all." Darcy smiled and poked him softly in the stomach, which was like poking a wall practically. "Damn!"

Steve chuckled and blushed as she clearly was pretending she'd injured her finger by poking him. "Sorry, are you okay?"

Darcy had super pouted her bottom lip out, "you should have a warning on your abs. Warning, brick wall."

"I'll have to think about that. In the meantime can I do anything to make you feel better?" Steve was totally caught in the game, and when she held up her finger, he gently curled his hand around hers and brought her finger to his lips and softly kissed it.

Darcy smiled, "like magic. But you should still consider the sign. For any future folks who might think they're poking an ordinary stomach."

He chuckled a little more, releasing her hand. "I've heard that saying, 'all work and no play,' several times now. I know it's a proverb, I'd heard it once when I was young from an uncle who was a reader of all things. He gave me a lot of books. But a lot of people seem to know it now. What made it become so prevalent?" Steve smiled a bit more for a moment, thinking about that uncle. He hadn't seen the man often, as he'd lived in Chicago, but he'd frequently sent packages with books for Steve.

"Oh! Okay, if you have not seen The Shining, that's probably something that should go on your list. It was used in that movie. I mean, it's been used other places too, but that's the one that most people are probably quoting it from these days." Darcy wasn't sure if Steve had tried any horror movies yet, and she was kind of curious what he'd think of them. She wasn't actually a big horror movie person, but The Shining was more than that, it was a classic, and she sometimes liked a little of everything.

Steve actually did pull out his list and jot it down. "We'll have to get to that one sometime. No one else has mentioned it so far, despite several people using the proverb."

"There are still so many things for you to try. It's going to be fun." She was standing close to him, smiling. Before Steve even thought about it, he put his hand on her back and softly guided her closer. Darcy very willingly was pulled into him. They were friends, but she did like him. She wasn't in a hurry, but she kind of hoped that this would at some point turn into something else. It at least felt like he had the same feelings.

"It will be fun. Hanging out with you is one of my main sources of fun." Steve was just smiling softly as he stood there, holding onto her. He was interested in learning more about what he'd missed, but mostly he just wanted to spend the time with her. It didn't really matter what they did. But checking things off his list was casual and fun.

"What are you checking on tonight, if you can say anything about it?" Darcy shifted slightly, and Steve loosened his hold. She wasn't sure if that meant let go or not, so she did, moving to see if there was something to drink in the fridge that she could take with her for her journey home. Steve's hand dropping away when she moved toward the fridge, his mind managed to override his body's desire to follow her movement and keep his hand on her.

"I'm not sure how much I can say. Sam and I have some feelers out on some things that I need to check in on. If any of them hit on anything, then I might need to go check on it in person." It was his Bucky search that he was checking in on. He and Sam had gotten a couple ideas on where Bucky might have gone, and Nat was supposed to get back to them in regards to if anything panned out.

Darcy nodded and smiled after retrieving a bottle of water and putting it in her bag. "Maybe, once you sort all that out, we could not only do another movie, but we could try going out. See a movie at the theater, get dinner or something?" The way she spoke, Steve kind of froze up a moment.

"Do you mean like a date?" Part of him wanted to scream yes, but Steve had also tensed up. He didn't want to read this wrong, and he wasn't sure it was a good idea. He had thought a little about it after Sam nudged, again, but he still wasn't sure it was a good idea. He had wanted to consider it some more, give it some more time to sit.

"Yeah, like a date. I like you. It at least seemed like you liked me." Darcy shrugged, getting more nervous inside by the moment. He looked tense, and worried. Not at all how she'd hoped he'd react to this. She'd been thinking about it for a few weeks, since even before they fell asleep together on the couch.

Steve shifted his weight and scratched his neck. His cheeks felt warm, then started sort of spewing words, "uh, I mean, you're really nice. I really do like spending time with you. But I'm so busy. I- I don't think I have time for a relationship. I'm not really interested in a relationship. I can't put in that kind of energy to something that isn't work. It wouldn't be fair. I mean..."

"It's okay, I get it." Darcy nodded, sucking up a breath, attempting to square her posture, before feeling her insides waver and she reached to grab her things. "It's okay."

Steve felt his head starting to race, he was too busy, wasn't he? Sometimes he didn't see her for weeks because he was chasing down some weird thing for the Avengers, or some lead on Bucky. He had no idea when or if he'd find Bucky. And the need for the Avengers as a whole or one or two at a time showed no signs of dwindling. It wouldn't be fair to just take off on her, would it? Yes, he knew Thor did it, and Tony did it. But he'd heard Tony talk about struggling with Pepper about that very thing at times. And it had sounded like Jane had taken that time apart from Thor when he'd been stuck in Asgard a bit hard. Steve didn't want to do that. But was this better? He wasn't so sure now, watching her posture change as she moved to go. "We're still on for the workout on Friday, if it doesn't take me all week. Right? If you want?"

"Yeah, cool." She nodded, her smiled looked pressed, and her eyes wounded as she brushed past him, headed for the elevator. Darcy wasn't going to cry until she was out of the building, or until she was home if she could manage it, or at all if she could suck it down somehow.


	2. Distracted

Darcy had debated all week about whether or not she was going to go to their Friday workout or not, unsure if she wanted to face Steve just yet. She knew she would have to. She didn't really want to lose a friend, but her heart still felt a little wounded. And seeing as this had all started on the heels of her arrival back to The States after things with Ian kind of just faded. He still had school to finish, and she couldn't stay in England when she needed to start making money, since she was finally finishing school. She'd been with Ian for about three months, not terribly long, but enough to at least cause a little ache. And then a couple months into being at the Tower, she met Steve. She wasn't even with him, they'd just been hanging out for a few months, and this felt worse than the breakup with Ian.

She grumbled at herself, at the thought, while she stared at her computer in the lab. She was supposed to be running some numbers for Jane, but she'd spaced out a little. Fortunately, Jane was so involved with whatever she was doing, she really hadn't noticed Darcy lost in thought. Finally it was Friday, and it turned out Darcy wouldn't have to decide, since it seemed Steve was still out of the Tower on some venture with Sam, again, according to Thor.

Steve was a busy person, she couldn’t really fault the reasoning, but couples like Thor and Jane, and Tony and Pepper made it work. Some of what he said also felt like tell tale ‘just want to be friends’ things. Things that she’d heard before, that usually wound up not really even being friends. The guys would stop being able or interested in hanging out, life was too busy, or life was too complicated, and then she never even heard from them again. She didn't know if that was what was about to happen with Steve, but she was feeling like she had to steel herself against whatever was going to happen next. Darcy didn't figure on this thing swinging the way she'd hoped. He wasn't interested in her, not romantically anyway. Maybe they'd find a friendship, but maybe she'd end up not really seeing him again. She had to be tough enough to deal with either situation, because neither sounded very easy at the moment.

"Are you alright, Darcy?" Darcy turned quickly to see Jane looking at her.

There was a long sigh from Darcy before she tried to shake the mental cobwebs off, "sorry, Jane. What do you need?"

"You have been a bit spacey all week. I let it go, because maybe you just needed to clear your head, but this isn't like you." Jane looked concerned. While she did have tasks for them both that needed doing, she also was growing worried about her friend's state.

"Just a situation that didn't play out how I'd expected. Read the situation wrong. I'm trying to focus better." Darcy wasn't sure she really wanted to tell all about it. She kind of preferred as few people as possible know what had happened.

"Okay, if you want to talk about it, let me know. In the meantime, you feel like helping me set up a test?" Jane usually liked to distract herself with science when something else bothered her, so maybe Darcy would too.

"Sure, what do you need me to do?" Science didn't get Darcy excited the way it did Jane, but anything she could focus on doing for a bit sounded like a good distraction.

The next couple of hours were spent keeping her brain on a series of tasks to help Jane with her test. It was fairly good distraction, but once it was done, she was left with all the same thoughts again. When this kind of thing happened in college she would have gone out bar hopping with a friend or two, but she didn't think Jane was game for that, and Jane was pretty much the only friend she had in New York. She didn't get out often enough to meet too many people outside the tower. She was casually friendly with the old lady that lived on the second floor of her building, and there was a gal she saw frequently on the train who came in from a bit farther north than she did, but often around the same time in the mornings. Darcy had complimented the gal on her shoes once and they occasionally chatted about random things on the train. There was also the fellow at the front desk of the Tower here, he worked security, who was friendly and she'd pause to chat with sometimes on her way in or out, but that was technically in the Tower. Her circle was smaller than it used to be. Not that she was miss popularity, at any point in her life, but in college she'd had a cluster of people who were usually always available to talk or get drinks or do something fun on the weekend. She hadn't thought too much about that until this week, and she found herself feeling a little lonely and removed from normal life.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help? I know I'm not the best with social cues, but you're reading plain as a star chart of Ursa Minor." Darcy had worked well for the time there was a distraction, but once they finished, Jane noticed Darcy's eyes glaze over a little, looking far away.

"I don't know, I guess I just need distractions. Back in college, when I was like this, I'd call up a friend or two and go dancing and drinking. But it's different now." Darcy shrugged, not that it was always a long term solve, but somehow drinking and dancing, and usually getting flirted with by some random dude in a club helped her feel better.

"We could do that." Jane sounded so decided, but Darcy wondered if Jane had ever been to a bar before.

"Really? Have you ever been to a bar? Or been dancing?" Darcy had a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Not, really, no. But I could try it. I could invite Thor, or it can be girls only, whatever you want." Jane shrugged, looking vaguely unsure, but was going for it anyway.

Darcy smiled, she appreciated the idea that Jane would try something so outside her comfort zone for the sake of cheering her up. "I might just need a few more days to sort it through. But if that doesn't work, then maybe I'll take you up on that offer."

"Okay. Well, I can offer you some data to check if that will keep you distracted for a while longer." Jane held out some files and Darcy took them with a little laugh.


	3. Lost Focus

Most of the team had at least noticed that Steve sometimes seemed momentarily distracted on missions the last few months. Though Sam was the only one who had figured out why that was. Sam had come looking for Steve one evening, and found him giving Darcy some lessons on the heavy bag. Sam had said he thought Darcy liked Steve, Steve wasn't so sure. That happened a few more times before the sleeping on the couch incident. Sam had definitely caught Steve liked Darcy, and that he couldn't really deny. He could however point out he was too busy to go getting involved in a relationship. He needed to find Bucky, and he had all the usual Avengers business to deal with. He didn't have time. It was what he told Sam. It was what he told Darcy. It was what he told himself. Though it still didn't stop his mind from wandering off sometimes. Steve tried to keep his mind off her. When he was running around busy, that was easier, but once a mission was mostly complete, but there was clean up, or wrap up to do. That was when his mind started wandering. And trying to sleep at night was sometimes harder. Even when home at the Tower, he'd wonder what she was doing that night if he hadn't seen her, or even if he had.

Steve had been dodging questions from Sam since hopping in the Quinjet, about Darcy, and if he maybe wanted to make up for being gone so long by maybe taking the lady out for a change. Steve hadn't told Sam about Darcy asking him out just before he left and him saying no. He didn't need Sam to tell him what his own mind had been telling him every moment he wasn't busy plotting the mission. They'd had a lead on Bucky, a good one. They didn't find him, but they did find a clue he'd been in Switzerland for a short while, not terribly long ago. They'd gotten several tips from around Eastern Europe, and Steve hoped that was all leading to something. He felt like it was. A few months ago, the tips had been all over the place, checking on things in Asia and South America to no avail. But this trail was finally different, there was a trail, they just hadn't caught up yet. Steve hoped they would before the trail went cold.

Sam noticed Steve looking a little shifty the closer they got to New York. He didn't say anything, but Steve stopped being able to make eye contact. He knew Sam knew something was up. Steve quickly got onto calls to Natasha and some other contacts when they got back to the Tower, to avoid dealing with anything else. And kept at it until Sam announced he was getting an early dinner and going to bed.

After he had landed, he heard Darcy was out of the building for a week herself, off with Jane somewhere investigating some anomaly or something. So he found himself in the gym, by himself, taking his frustration out on a heavy bag, and feeling lonely. It had actually been a while since he'd been at the heavy bags without her. Without even realizing, he'd grown used to, and fond of having her company in the gym. Well, at the heavy bags. He hit up other parts of the gym other times without her to lift weights, or do other such things. But this had somehow become something he did with her, and suddenly she wasn't there.

Steve missed her. And pounding it out on the heavy bags was just barely taking the edge off. Maybe he'd hear from Natasha in the morning, she had said she was following up on something that seemed promising. He hoped so, because he could really use the distraction of searching for Bucky. Darcy wouldn't be back to the Tower for at least five days, assuming the itinerary for Dr. Foster remained as planned, and Steve wasn't quite sure how he was going to keep himself together for five days if he didn't have things to do.

Of course, Sam appeared. "So, what is going on? I haven't seen you wail on the heavy bags like that in months."

Steve looked up and sighed heavily. "Just stressed is all. We were close this time, I don't want to lose the trail." It was at least somewhat true. As Steve had learned, he wasn't that good a liar, so half truths worked much better for diversion tactics.

Sam crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, "I know something else is going on, cause you were like this before we left on the mission. Spill. I can't help if I don't know what's going on."

"I don't know." Steve shook his head before hitting at the bag again a few times. Sam stepped a little closer, employing something akin to the kind of look one gets from a mom or teacher when they know they aren't getting the whole truth from a child. Steve exhaled, long, again. "Before that little mission, Darcy may have, sort of, asked me out, and I kind of said no."

"You did what? Steve." Sam shook his head, "I know you keep saying you're so busy, but she knows that. She's already accepted that as part of hanging out with you. She was probably prepared for you taking off from time to time on missions. You like her. Why did you say no?"

"It just doesn't seem fair, Sam. I know she's familiar with this all, she works here. But she could still have a kind of normal life. I can't give her, or anyone, that." Steve hit the bag a few more times.

"You ever consider letting her make that choice for herself. She has been watching her friend have a relationship with a demigod for like a year now or something? Two years? She knows this isn't a normal situation, but she asked anyway. She chose to do that." Sam was still a little shocked. He knew Steve was slow to move, and would need more nudging, to get him to ask Darcy out. But he hadn't figured that if Darcy made an interest clear, that Steve would run the other way. Sam would have to see if he could help Steve fix this, but he wasn't sure how yet. "Okay, how exactly did this scene play out?"

Steve tried to explain it as simply as he could, a little stammering along the way. Sam mostly just shook his head as he listened to Steve tell him just how that scene had gone.

"I mean, I left the next day, maybe she'll still want to be friends. But she rushed off so fast. It left me with a bad feeling in my stomach. And doing this without her, I didn't realize how much I'd miss her." Steve hung his head, a soft shake to it as well.

"Sounds like it. Though if you'd asked me, I could have told you, you were going to regret that. I'm not completely sure how best to attempt to repair this, but I'll think about it. She's not back for a few days, right? Dr. Foster's at some conference or studying something, right?" Sam didn't always keep tabs on what was happening beyond what he was working on with Steve. That wasn't his area.

"That's what I heard, yeah. I suppose I can try just going and talking to her. But I've never been too good at that." Steve could feel the nerves crawling through his body. Knowing opening his mouth around women he liked could sometimes do more harm than good.

"Maybe she'll be less flustered when she's back, maybe you can just tell her you panicked and thought you were doing what was best, but regret it now. Maybe she'll take pity. Maybe we can think of something to butter her up as well." Sam didn't know a whole lot about Darcy beyond tidbits, but knowing if she was the kind of woman who would be softened with a gesture like flowers or something would be possibly helpful to know.


	4. That's Weird

Darcy spent the trip with Jane trying to keep occupied. Monitoring equipment and energy fluctuations. There was a lot of activity, so at least it kept her busy. Some kind of anomaly, or distortion, or something not entirely dissimilar to the ones associated with Thor and other Asgardians when traveling to Earth. Darcy couldn't seem to keep the various terms straight. No marking in the Earth though, and no signs of anyone come to visit. Thor had even accompanied them to see if someone arrived. Even checking in with Asgard to see if anyone knew anything there. Even Heimdall seemed unsure if someone from Asgard was on Earth besides Thor. But then Thor knew Loki had known about some back roads, of sorts, from Asgard to Earth, so maybe others knew them as well. Thor was on alert, and Darcy, while trying to keep herself busy, found herself feeling like there was something going on.

"It could simply be an anomaly, I suppose." Something about the way Thor said that though, made Darcy think he didn't really believe that.

Jane just scrunched her nose and one side of her mouth. Jane didn't believe that either. "If it's not from Asgard, then it's from somewhere or something. Energy doesn't just spike for no reason."

"True." Thor looked up to the sky. They had their trailer set up in a wooded area near a clearing, the energy readings were high there, and it was a good spot for taking off and landing, as Thor had done a couple times since they arrived.

Darcy looked up for a moment, at least this was keeping her distracted, though she wasn't sure it was any more soothing. There were massive energy readings as well as atmospheric disturbances in the area, that area being the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. She did have a weird feeling about it all. Darcy wasn't sure if that was just because of how Jane, Erik, and Thor were reacting to it, or if there was something else. Erik hadn't come with them, but Jane was on the phone to him back at the Tower constantly, talking about readings and data. The consensus was, Erik thought it was weird too. Darcy didn't like it when all the scientists she knew called something 'weird' but offered no further explanations of what it was. That seemed like a bad sign, at least in Darcy's book.

Of course Darcy still thought plenty about what happened when she had asked Steve out and he said no. She thought the vibe she’d gotten from him was one of real interest. But she guessed that she had gotten it wrong. He only liked her as a friend. Darcy did like Steve, as a person, as a friend, she didn't want to lose that too, but she was still feeling wounded, and wasn't sure if she could handle seeing him right away when she returned to the Tower. And how to deal with it, with him, circled her mind all the time in the moments when she didn’t have enough distraction.

Thor noticed something was slightly amiss with her, but did not ask questions. Jane knew the whole story, Darcy had wound up telling her just before this little trip, but Jane had left it at if Darcy wanted to talk more, she was there. Jane was curious about science, less so about people. People she tended to let be whenever possible. Maybe Jane had a point, science made more sense than people, and Darcy didn’t even know what most of the science stuff was. 

Jane had her equipment out, monitoring readings constantly when there was a surge again, not as big as when Thor came or left, but notable, and then a man appeared.

"Heimdall! Did you find something?" Thor was surprised for only a moment at the avatar of his friend.

"There is more going on here than any of us can presently see. I am still looking. I know there is something happening, but my vision is obscured. Someone has been operating recently on Midgard. I will keep searching for who." Heimdall looked around, his form enabled him to freely interact with Thor and what was there on Earth, while still actually being on Asgard.

"You remember Jane." Jane glanced up at her name and waved a moment at Heimdall before her attention returned to her equipment.

Heimdall chuckled lightly, "I do."

"And this is her assistant, Darcy." Thor motioned, Darcy was already staring. The golden eyes were hard not to notice. She'd heard mention of Heimdall, but had never really pictured what he might look like. She had sort of just assumed he looked something like one of the Warriors Three or something.

"Hi," She got out before he locked eyes with her for, she didn't know how long. Long enough that Thor was giving them both a curious look.

"Hello. Nice to meet you." He nodded before looking back at Thor, "I must return to my watch, I'll contact you again soon. Hopefully I will see more."

"Thank you." Thor then cocked his head to the side as he looked at her when Heimdall's avatar vanished.

"What? Do I have spots on my face or something?" She definitely felt like things were getting weirder.

"It's probably nothing." Thor shook his head and followed as Jane started roaming about the area with her energy reader thing.


	5. Dropping In

Sam spent some time, the last couple weeks of October, trying to casually do recon on Darcy, particularly after she returned and seemed to be dodging Steve. Steve had left her a message about heavy bag sessions if she was free, but nothing else. Hoping if she was even remotely interested in letting him try to make it up to her, that she'd turn up to a session and he could attempt to talk to her. Ambushing her in the lab just didn't seem like the right thing to do, but Steve was wondering if it was the only way to see her. He realized he wasn't sure what her room number was, or even what floor she lived on, he'd never asked her, and asking Jarvis seemed like some kind of invasion of privacy or something.

Sam was debating just how involved he should get in terms of if he should find Darcy in the lab, or request Jarvis tell him where she lived and go speak for Steve. But it seemed like that might be meddling a little too much. Though after a week of nothing, Steve seemed to be getting a little flustered. To the point that Sam was having to take communications from Natasha about the Bucky search, because Steve's mind was too preoccupied. That was a first.

Finally, Sam talked Steve into dropping by the lab and seeing what was up. Since there had been no word back from Darcy about the heavy bag workouts. Steve entered the lab slow and cautious, and what he found seemed like chaos. Jane was practically shouting things across the lab at Erik, terms Steve did not know. Darcy was at the computer, looking both exhausted and frazzled. Maybe she'd never even gotten the message he'd left.

Steve contemplated leaving, but then she looked up, and he'd been seen. "Hey Darcy."

"Hey, sorry, it's kind of crazy around here." Darcy had gotten so busy, she'd managed to not think too much about the whole Steve situation since returning to the Tower. A case of conveniently timed work to keep her mind occupied.

"I see that now. What's going on?" He was sort of curious, and also was going to take any line of conversation he could with Darcy.

"Some energy disturbance thingy or something. Jane's still trying to figure it out, Thor is a little concerned, and Erik is even jumping around cause it's similar to New Mexico. So, I don't really know what's happening, but it seems to be something." She had barely glanced up while she spoke, her eyes trained on her screen as she was waiting for the computer to finish saving a file.

"Darcy!" Jane shouted, "the files!"

"Give me a second." Darcy sighed and huffed a little before finding and sending the files to Jane's computer. Darcy had been processing data, again. She was doing a lot of that.

"I sent you a message about heavy bag sessions, but I see things are crazy." Steve was mostly watching her, though his gaze darted around the room once or twice.

"I'm sorry, I've barely had time to sleep. I don't think I've looked at anything in the last week that didn't have something to do with Jane's research." Darcy shook her head, still tapping at things on her computer. But she did look up a moment, at him, when she said 'sorry'. She was sorry that she'd missed that he even sent her a message. She didn't want to be rude, but in trying to keep her mind off him, and being busy, she kind of let herself succumb to the crazy.

"It's okay. I just wanted to check on you. And whenever you get some free time from this, I'd like to work out with you again." Steve spoke kind of softly, staring a little as she worked printing something out.

Darcy looked at him again, long enough to sigh and catch his gaze for a moment, perhaps the hint of a smile in her tired eyes, "thanks. I'll let you know when I'm free." Then Erik was waving at her, he wanted the sheet she'd just printed.

She was already hurrying across the lab to Erik when Steve spoke again, "Okay, because I miss you." He didn't think she heard him, maybe he should have waited and really told her that, or said it a little louder, but his nerves were chewing him up inside. So he turned and left instead, feeling knots in his stomach. He didn't want to bother her when she was really busy. But he really did miss her.


	6. It's Halloween

Tony's Halloween party was in full swing when Steve walked in. He hadn't really wanted to go, but Tony had been insistent, and he hoped perhaps he'd see Darcy. Maybe she'd have a little while to talk, maybe he could make the situation better. Costumes were required, Steve had probably half-assed it as a cowboy in jeans, a button down shirt, waist holster with a toy gun, and a cowboy hat, with boots.

He had headed for the bar, and been greeted by a couple dozen people he either barely knew, or didn't even know at all, or maybe it was just the costumes on some. Finally ending up at the bar to grab a beer. Not that Earth beer would get him drunk, or even buzzed, but he still liked it, and it was sort of a social crutch at an event like this. It gave the appearance of participation in party events, as well as an exit if he finished it and went for another. As he wandered away from the bar, Sam spotted him.

"There you are. I see you went with minimum effort on the costume." Sam was a low key guy in how he liked to live, but he enjoyed a good costume party, and had always enjoyed Halloween, so the all out Han Solo get up perhaps wasn't a total surprise.

Steve glanced down at himself before looking back at Sam and shrugging. "I'm here for two reasons, neither is the costume."

Sam chuckled, he knew exactly what the reasons were. "Have you spotted her yet?"

"Not yet. I haven't even taken a sip of a drink yet." And he still didn't.

"Just got here?" Sam was looking around, seeing if he could catch sight of Darcy.

"About a half hour, but it took that long to get through all the greetings on my way to the bar." Steve sighed and finally took a sip.

"This place is somehow even busier than I expected it to be, and I expected a big party, just knowing Tony." Sam chuckled a bit.

"Everyone seems to want to say hi," Steve felt like he wasn't all that interesting, and party conversations weren't really his forte.

"Well, because you're Captain America, at least some of the time. It's the celebrity thing, people are like that. But I imagine it gets old when you just want to get a drink at the bar."

"Especially when I'm thinking about something else entirely." It had taken Steve a bit to admit or say even that much out loud, but he had, at least to Sam.

"How about we split up and look for her. If I spot her, I'll text you. If you spot her, just go for it."

Steve nodded, "sounds like a good plan." It was, assuming when he saw Darcy, he didn't put his foot in his mouth again. He took a long drink, because it somehow helped settle his mind, even if the alcohol didn't work on him.

"Just breathe, dude. You got this. I'm going to get a drink, and circle that way." Sam gave him a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder before heading for the bar.

Steve took another deep breath and downed the rest of the beer, before heading in the opposite direction.


	7. Is There Magic in the Air?

Darcy had generally always liked Halloween, and since Jane had to go, Darcy didn't mind going to keep her company, as Thor was on Asgard for the night. Though she'd somehow quickly lost her friend in the masses. Jane had hunkered down with Bruce in a quiet corner, away from the crazy, talking science, and Darcy had headed for the bar to get a drink after a while. Drink in hand, she milled around, and found a good spot to observe the festivities, leaning lightly against a wall. She'd gone with an old faithful costume, a witch. Nothing too fancy, the hat, black flowing dress, with lace embellishments, and a wand for good measure, that she could hook onto her dress when she didn't want to hold it.

She'd been there a little while, sipping her drink when someone walked up beside her. It was Steve, and he looked sort of sweetly sad. Ever since he'd popped into the lab the other day, to check on her, Darcy had found herself thinking about him more and more, and thinking about when she actually would have time free from Jane's project to catch a workout with him. Maybe it would make things feel normal again.

"Hey. Cowboy, aye?" She smiled lightly at him, her voice soft and playful.

A little smile spread slow over his features when she spoke. "Yeah, I kind of wanted to be one as a kid, but never really got to do it. My mom was always too busy to make me a costume, and I was often too sick to participate anyway."

Darcy frowned softly, "well, then I'm glad you are getting to do it now. Though I'm guessing this wasn't really your idea of a good time."

"Tony's parties can feel a little overwhelming to me sometimes. But I'm glad I'm here now." There was something in his eyes that made Darcy's insides flutter a little.

"It certainly is a scene, that's for sure. It's good to see you." Her gaze hadn't wavered from him.

"It's good to see you too." There was a pause for a moment, as she felt him focus intensely on her, "I've missed you."

"You have?" Darcy's mind was racing over all the things that could mean, but tried to push them aside. She'd missed him too, but he could just mean their friendship, which she did too. She still liked him, she still wanted him to want to go out with her, but she did just miss being around him.

"Yeah, I hope I didn't mess everything up." He shifted his weight and scratched his head, "I do want to go out with you, if you would still like to go out with me. I like you a lot, Darcy. The heavy bags haven't been the same. Looking at my list isn't the same. I think about you when I'm not in the middle of craziness on a mission, and maybe even then for a moment or two."

Darcy released a breath she'd somehow been holding in while he spoke, and smiled. "I've been throwing myself into every job Jane had for me, just to keep my mind off you. Which hasn't always been all that successful. I would like to go out with you, if you really want that."

Steve nodded, leaning in a little closer to her, his shoulder against the wall right beside her. "It is what I really want. I'm sorry I said no. I just worried it wouldn't be fair to drag you into my crazy life. But someone made the point to me that you probably know it's not a normal life I have."

Darcy laughed a little, "I do realize that. Mr. Disappears for weeks at a time. But I think you might be worth it anyway."

The flush that crossed his cheeks made her blush a bit as well. "I don't know if I am, but I'll try to be."

"I don't doubt that." She shifted slightly, one shoulder pulling off the wall so she could face him more. As she did, his hand reached out to the side of her waist.

"I do know that I haven't felt this way about someone in a very long time. Not since before I went into the ice." Neither could seem to look away, their gazes locked into one another. Darcy's hand landed on Steve's shoulder as the rest of the party seemed to just fade away. She actually trembled, standing there, leaning more into Steve than the wall. When she did, she felt both his hands grip her close, keeping her steady.

"I think I fell harder for you than I realized. You saying no to a date actually hit me harder than the guy I broke up with before coming here, and I dated him for three months." Darcy wasn't sure if that was weird, if she should have told Steve that. She didn't ponder it long though, as his lips touched hers. It was soft and slow, just grazing against each other for a few moments.

"Do you want to maybe go sit down somewhere? Maybe somewhere quieter?" Her eyes had fluttered open to find his already watching her before he spoke.

"That sounds good." Darcy nodded and the smile that crossed his face made her whole face brighten too. He took her hand and they slipped away from the party.

She readily followed him to his room. Steve had asked if she wanted to, or if she'd rather just sit in the lounge, but if he was offering to let her into his room, she was taking it. They settled on his couch and Steve pulled her close. "I'm sorry I said no. I was scared. I worried about it not being fair to you, knowing Tony has struggled at times to keep his relationship with Pepper going because of what he does as Iron Man. And I know it was a strain on Thor and Jane too. I..."

Darcy brushed her hand down his cheek, and Steve stopped talking. "I understand, I'm glad you decided it was worth the work. That you liked me that much."

"I think I love you. The moment I said no, I regretted it, but I didn't know how to back peddle. You already looked hurt and then I didn't know how to say what I actually felt." She smiled softly as he shook his head and his hands gently squeezed her. Darcy wondered if he could hear her heart pounding, because she could.

"I think I love you, too. I don't know how else to explain what I'm feeling." He pulled her into another kiss, one that lingered on as she parted her lips and they seemed to meld into each other.

Sitting and kissing on the couch turned into wandering hands, which meandered to the bedroom. And before long their clothes were lost to the floor as their bodies tangled between Steve's sheets.


	8. The Haze of Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter ahead.

The next morning Darcy woke in Steve's room, in his bed, naked, but there was no Steve. She felt vaguely fuzzy at first, but certain moments of the night flickered back to her as she looked around the room. The fact that she was there must prove those hazy images in her head were not just dreams, right? It wasn't that late, though it wasn't really early. She straightened up the room, used the bathroom and dressed, wondering if he might just be out for a run or something, but after an hour or so, and finding no notes as to where he'd gone she started to feel weird just hanging around his room, plus, Jane probably still expected her to show up to work. They had agreed that the day after Halloween would have to be a later starting day, but there was no getting out of working. Darcy fortunately had her clothes from before the party stashed in the lab. She hurried up, hiding the witch hat behind her back, and hoped she wouldn't pass anyone along the way. Fortunately the Tower seemed to be business as usual, which meant relatively empty halls, as everyone was in offices and labs working.

"Is that your Halloween costume?" Obviously Jane was far too alert and observant this morning of things that were not her science. Darcy had barely gotten in the door when she got spotted.

"Uh, yeah, kind of. I wound up sleeping here. It was late and I was tired." Darcy saw the raised eyebrow, but perhaps her heavy sigh made Jane rethink any further questions.

"Do you need any clothes? I might have a dress or something that you could get into." Darcy doubted anything that fit around Jane would get around her, but it was kind.

"Thanks, I dressed here, yesterday evening, so I should have reasonably clean clothes stashed," she opened a drawer and pulled out her jeans and a top that she'd worn on the train yesterday, "here!"

Jane just shook her head with a small smile, "get changed and then I've got some stuff for you to do. Do I get you all day, or do you have to Stark-sit?"

"Pepper is still here today, so no Stark-sitting." Darcy actually managed a small chuckle before shuffling into the bathroom to change. At least working with Jane all day might keep her mind occupied. And then she could see this afternoon what happened to Steve.


	9. Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another really short one.

"Hey! Yo, Steve!" Sam's fingers snapping in front of his face were the first thing Steve recalled seeing that day.

He looked up, he was sitting at his desk drinking a cup of coffee, but he had no recollection of pouring himself coffee or coming into his office, or even what day it was, at least until he looked down at his watch and it said 'Nov 1'. Steve shook his head, "what's up?"

"I just got off the line with Natasha. She said she spotted Barnes in Bucharest. She doesn't think he spotted her, but she thinks we should move fast. She said he looked a little jumpy. Don't want him moving on and losing him."

That news definitely shook off Steve's cobwebs, "definitely not. I'll grab a bag and see if there's a free Quinjet."

"There is, I already called up to Tony, he said it's all ours. Meet you up there in ten?"

"Sounds good." Steve nodded, quickly shutting down his computer as Sam got a move on.

Steve quickly shuffled away the couple things he'd had on his desk and headed up to his room to get his go bag. He entered and went straight to his bedroom closet. The moment of pause when he pulled the bag out was strange. Something felt off. Like he was forgetting something. A quick scan of the room and his bag, everything seemed in place, but the feeling remained. There wasn't time now, though. He could ponder what was going on later, in the Quinjet.


	10. Eyes Open

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one.

"Darcy?" 

Who was saying her name? Where was it coming from? 

"Darcy!"

Darcy snapped back to attention to find Jane staring, wide eyed at her across a lab table. "Sorry, did I doze off?"

"Only if you sleep with your eyes open." Jane didn't move.

"I don't think I do. But I was definitely having some kind of weird dream. There was a city, but it didn't look like anything I've ever seen photos or anything of." Darcy shook her head. It felt so vivid, so real. She was walking around a city that seemed both old and yet very other worldly and futuristic. There were mountains in the distance, and a towering building at the center of the city. It seemed somehow familiar, but she was sure she'd never seen it.

"Whatever it was, it was weird. Are you awake enough to keep working?" Darcy shifted as she started to feel like Jane was examining her.

"Yeah, I'm awake now. Just stop looking at me like that, it's weirding me out." Darcy waved her hands in front of her and focused back on the tool they'd been using for Jane's experiment. She had constructed some kind of sensor to detect smaller fluctuations in space or something. It was supposed to detect things like Thor traveling to their realm well before he touched down, as well as older remnants of realm travel, and any pockets on Earth that might be weak spots between worlds.

"Well, you sleeping with your eyes open was weirding me out, so we're even. Now, I want to do another scan." Jane flipped a switch and turned something and the machine started running, it was surprisingly quiet, and then there were readings, much higher than their last test. "Woah. I wonder if Thor just showed up, because there was a recent surge in energy. Very nearby." 

Darcy glanced at the readings, which she only knew enough about to see that they were higher than before. But Jane got excited and started fussing with other devices to find out whatever she was looking for, while Darcy sat and waited for further directions.


	11. Don't Know

"What's on your mind?" Sam had been staring at Steve for a good five minutes before he said anything. They were out over the Atlantic and there was no where to hide from the question, not when it was just the two of them.

"Mostly just hoping we actually catch up to Bucky." Steve was trying to keep his focus on flying the Quinjet, not that it couldn't operate largely in autopilot mode while simply cruising from one place to another.

"Really? No side thoughts about a certain curvy, dark haired, lab assistant?" The eyebrow. Sam was hard to fool, or skirt.

"Maybe a few. But I'm still not really sure what to do about it other than hope she wants to come work out again and I can talk to her." Steve knew he missed Darcy, but he still wasn't sure what to really do about it.

"What did she say last night?"

"Last night?" The head tilt would have been enough, but confusion swam all over Steve's features.

"Yeah, I thought I spotted you talking to her, but when I passed by closer a little later, you were gone." Sam had a pretty good poker face, but even he couldn't keep back the worry clouding his eyes.

Steve didn't respond, he was trying to recall the night before and was somehow coming up empty.

"Steve? What is up with you today? Are you sure you're ready for this mission? Cause maybe Nat can keep a tail on him a little longer." Sam knew Steve wanted to be the one to approach Bucky, and it made sense, if Bucky was going to believe anyone was actually there to help him, it would be Steve. But this was the second time Sam had seen Steve look completely checked out today.

"I was talking to her?" Steve could feel everything inside him tighten.

"I thought it was her anyway, I was on the other side of the room when I spotted you. Dressed as a witch."

There was a small pause as Steve searched his mind again for the answer. "I don't know."

"What do you remember from last night?"

"I don't know. I remember showing up to the party. I remember there was a lot of people there." There was a long pause before Steve asked, "do you remember anything weird from last night?"

"No, I don't think so. Though now that I think about it, I woke up this morning feeling pretty fuzzy. And I didn't drink that much last night." Sam was speaking slow, and Steve could see the same searching going on in his friend's mind that was going on in his own.

"I wonder if anyone else woke up feeling fuzzy this morning."

Sam took a couple of long breaths. "We can ask around when we get back."

Steve nodded, there wasn't much else to do about it until they got back. "Let's get Bucky, and then I can figure everything else out."

"One thing at a time, I suppose." Though Sam looked decidedly less comfortable than he had a few minutes earlier, shifting in his seat as the view out the window was nothing but sea and sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> been having a bad brain day, so maybe posting this will help


	12. Was it a Dream?

It was late afternoon and Jane had set Darcy free for the rest of the day after running a dozen scans and collecting data. Thor had shown up, but with no new information, and Jane would probably be studying either her data, or Thor, all night, which luckily didn't require assistance. Darcy felt weird going looking for Steve, she'd never done so before, but everything since she woke up felt like some kind of surreal haze. She was starting to question things she thought she knew. In the lagging moments in the lab, her mind had gone into overdrive wondering why he didn't at least leave a message or note for her. Why she still hadn't heard a thing from him. Maybe she did dream it all up. Maybe she actually fell asleep on a couch in a lounge and only thought she'd been in Steve's room. And why did it all seem kind of hazy? She hadn't drank that much, one drink, that was it, actually she didn't even think she'd finished the one drink. She'd been part way through it when she thought she recalled Steve appearing, and then she got lost in him and she didn't think she brought her drink with her to his room. Assuming she really had been there. But she sure felt like she woke up naked in his bed that morning. And then there was the whole dreaming with her eyes open, or whatever it was. Darcy had no idea. It wasn't something her mother had ever mentioned as something she'd been known to do. Her college roommates had never noticed it either, nor had Jane in the few years they'd spent traveling and working and often living together. So why now?

Steve usually worked in an office on the floor with threat assessment and security when he was in the building. They kept tabs on all the weird occurrences, as well as tips and reports sent to the Avengers. Anything really severe, they called in the Avengers. Anything moderate, possibly one or two Avengers and a few Shield folks. Mild, but legit, they'd let the new Shield know and they'd dispatch someone. Anything less, if it was something local law enforcement could do, they called them, otherwise, some of it was nothing at all. Darcy had only been down to that floor once, and not to find Steve. She'd been bringing some info from Tony down to pass off to Natasha, that he wanted done personally. Darcy had no idea what it was, but it was a month ago at this point.

After probably appearing to be lost for several minutes, she found her way to an assistant's desk that seemed close enough to the door labeled 'Captain Steve Rogers', that Darcy thought perhaps the gal behind that desk might know something of Steve's whereabouts.

When the woman looked up at her, Darcy asked as casually as she could, "would you happen to know where Captain Rogers is?"

"Captain Rogers left late this morning with Mr. Wilson on a mission. That's all I know." The woman shrugged and waited, looking at Darcy a moment, probably in case there was a follow up question.

"Thanks," Darcy nodded and pressed a small smile, before turning to head back toward the elevator.

Steve had left the building, with no further information. Late morning, that was definitely after she'd woken up and probably after she'd left his room. Had he gone back before he left? But even if so, when she wasn't there, he could have easily left a message on her phone, he'd done that a couple times, in the past, about work outs. He also could have asked Jarvis to give her a message. Darcy understood him having to leave in a hurry for a mission, but after the night they had, she thought he would have at least told her, somehow, that he had to go out on a mission, that she wouldn't have to learn that from some assistant in threat assessments. Unless she'd dreamed it. Or unless he'd decided by morning it was all a bad idea.


	13. Find Him

The Quinjet landed a bit outside the city at a facility that Natasha suggested. From there, Steve and Sam headed to rendezvous with Nat who was keeping tabs on Bucky's movements. They were all dressed down to blend into the masses. The idea was for no one to notice anything was happening aside from an ordinary day.

As they had gotten closer to finding Bucky, Steve had revealed more to a few people, Tony especially, he'd filled him in completely. After all the hypothetical conversations they'd had, Tony wasn't at all surprised by any of it, and had already made several contingency plans without Steve even realizing it. Tony had even communicated with Nat about several things prior to Steve officially telling him anything. Fury had been laying pretty low since the Shield mess, but he'd shared a few tips and in turn Steve had updated him on some progress. Maria Hill, now working at the Tower, knew generally that a search was underway, but not the specifics. Bruce as well had been looped in, not by Steve personally, but Tony had been keeping him appraised of the hypothetical conversations, and figured Bruce would be helpful if and when the time came to help Bucky recover.

Steve went in alone, Nat said Bucky should be out, but return home soon. Home being a somewhat run down old apartment building. Nat and Sam took up positions nearby with different vantage points in case Bucky spooked and ran, or in case someone had followed them. Steve had found his way in and then secured it, not wanting Bucky to run on the suspicion someone had broken in.

He took the chance to look around, looking at a notebook that was on the table. It looked like Bucky had remembered some things. It had been less than a year, it seemed like good progress. Steve turned, feeling the shift in the air. "You remember me?"

"Yeah, you're Steve." Bucky's posture was tense, but his eyes were pained.

"And?" Steve's voice was soft as he set the notebook down.

Bucky looked around, possibly assessing if he was safe or not. "And I knew you, in another life."

"I can help you. I can see you're remembering things."

"I'm not sure anyone can help me." That had hit Steve like a kick to the chest.

"Bucky, I can only imagine how confusing and hard this is for you with your memories jumbled. It was hard enough for me sometimes waking up after almost seventy years on ice." Steve shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling unsure what else to do. His posture shifting from a firm stance, like he held at the start, like he did when he was in uniform, to something much less sharp.

Bucky looked down a moment before looking back at Steve, "did you come alone?"

"No. I have two friends outside. And a couple of others back in the States who are ready to help too." Steve took a step closer.

Bucky shifted and Steve froze in place. "And you trust these people?"

"Yes. They want to help. Do you trust me?" Steve hoped Bucky would trust him, but he understood why he might not.

"Maybe." Bucky shifted again, peering out a window then making sure it was covered again.

Steve nodded, "That's a start anyway."


	14. Bring Him Back

Three days was what it took, and Steve managed to convince Bucky to come home with him. Sam and Nat had called back to Tony who was already putting plans in motion. Initially, they would bring Bucky back to the Tower. The upper levels of the building would be restricted access to only a select handful of people while Tony brought in a few trusted specialists to work with Bruce in making sure Bucky was deprogrammed from whatever triggers Hydra had put in him. And assess how ready and able he was to fold back into society. The Avengers had access, along with Sam, Maria, Pepper, Helen Cho, and three other doctors, two neurologists and a psychiatrist. Helen and the other doctors were working closely with Bruce and Tony to clear Bucky of Hydra's triggers and brainwashing. Sam was of course a part of it all, and it seemed in everyone's best interests to bring Maria and Pepper into the loop. Pepper, since explaining to her why she couldn't have access to the upper floors would have meant Tony telling her what was happening anyway. And Maria knew exactly what the government would want to have assurances to once Bucky's existence was made known to the masses, which would happen slowly and only after Bucky had acclimated to life a bit. Until then, his presence was to be kept under wraps.

The Quinjet arrived in the late hours of the night. All the doctors, except Helen, had arrived, she was due early in the morning, and they got to work. Steve stayed with Bucky, while Bruce did some initial scans, and then the neurologists did some specific scans and tests with him to gauge his mental state and reactions. Bucky felt like a ball of nerves inside, but maintained his breathing and stayed calm. He found it did help seeing Steve sitting there. It made him feel like if anything went sideways here, at least Steve would help him. A funny turn around given Bucky had recalled it had been the other way around when they were young.

After a bit, the doctors, including Bruce, wandered off to examine the results and said Bucky could go relax in quarters. Tony had set up one of the upper rooms to accommodate Bucky and Steve, and Sam had brought a bunch of Steve's clothes and basic things up from his regular quarters, after they all landed. Steve lead the way, both quiet until they reached the room.

"They all seem nice." Bucky tried to smile, but he wasn't sure it worked quite right anymore.

"They are." Steve noticed Sam had left his things on one of the beds and began putting a few things away.

Bucky didn't have much, a backpack with his notebooks and a small bag with a couple changes of clothes, that was all he owned. "Do you really think they can help me piece things back together, and get rid of all the shit Hydra put in my head?"

"Yeah, I think they can. Those are some of the most brilliant and innovative doctors in the world." Steve hoped they could, or at least could help mend it enough that Bucky could actually live, and maybe Steve could too. Now that Steve had his friend back, his brother, he wasn't letting him go again.

"I'm not sure I'm worth all the trouble." Steve had been hanging up his coat when he turned at what Bucky said, Bucky's gaze on the floor. Without a word Steve stepped in and pulled Bucky into a hug. It took a moment, but Bucky hugged him back.

It was a long moment, hanging on, before they stepped back. "You are. You deserve a chance to live again."

"Thanks, Steve." Bucky started pacing a little as Steve put the rest of his things away. The room had an adjoining bathroom and a small kitchenette, so they wouldn't need to go anywhere other than when the doctors wanted to see Bucky.


	15. The Elevator

The next morning, Darcy was headed up to Tony's lab first thing to check on him, since Pepper had left a couple of days ago to deal with business elsewhere. Her shoulders heaved in a sigh as she rode the elevator alone, her sleep had been a little weird ever since Halloween. She hadn't always dreamed very much, or at least she didn't remember them. But she had started waking up in the middle of the night from strange dreams. She saw that gold tower again. She had also seen, maybe the same place, an expanse of water and a large round building that seemed to sit at the edge of the world. There were also dreams where she saw a woman dressed in green, with blond hair. She was very pretty, but Darcy didn't think she'd ever seen her before. And there were many others, that frankly were so strange she didn't really know how to even describe them. Darcy looked up, watching the floor numbers light in succession until it reached the 80th floor, a few floors below where she usually found Stark tooling away with something.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lewis, but you may not proceed any further. All higher levels have been placed on restricted access. Would you like to get off here, or shall I take you some place else?" Jarvis' voice came through a moment after the lift stopped.

"What? What's going on? Why is it restricted? I always go up. I have to check in with Stark." Why wouldn't someone have told her about that?

"I'm very sorry, Miss Lewis. The restriction just took effect. If you'd like I can message Mr. Stark."

"Yes, please do that, Jarvis." Darcy leaned against the wall of the elevator and crossed her arms. She waited for what seemed like a while, though was probably only a minute or two.

"Mr. Stark apologizes for the inconvenience. He said he won't be needing your assistance for the next few weeks. He and Dr. Banner are running some tests on a project that could be hazardous, so only restricted personnel are allowed. He said to check back in three weeks time on the progress."

"Okay." The word was rather drawn out as she stood, still leaning against the elevator wall. 

"Is there something else, Miss Lewis?"

Darcy shook her head, still finding the whole thing a little weird. "No, just take me down to Jane's lab then."

"Very well." The elevator then headed back down a few floors to the one Jane & Erik's labs were on.

Maybe she shouldn't have felt so bothered, it was probably some weird new suit or something, she'd heard murmurs from both Tony and Bruce about some kind of thing they were calling a 'Hulkbuster' so maybe they were testing that. She supposed she could see where that could be dangerous, especially if testing it required actually having Bruce 'Hulk out'. But that no one bothered to mention to her, like yesterday, when she was helping Tony with some final building renovation plans, that this would be happening. It kind of made her feel like she wasn't all that important. But she supposed she wasn't, she was just an assistant. An assistant to great people, but still, only an assistant. One that probably could be replaced by many other people.


	16. The Lab

Darcy wandered into the lab, where Jane and Erik were already hard at work, hunched over a chart on one of the tables while Jane fiddled with one of her homemade devices. Since they seemed occupied for the moment, Darcy took a seat in the office chair she frequently occupied these days, and put her feet up on the desk. Elbow on the desk, head in her hand, she watched for several minutes before Erik glanced over and spotted her.

"Morning, Darcy."

"Morning. Did you guys know," she paused for dramatic effect, "that the upper floors of the Tower are on restricted access for the next few weeks, as of today?"

"No, what's going on?" Erik stepped over to the desk while Jane still seemed oblivious.

"I guess Tony and Bruce are testing something hazardous up there, so I couldn't get past the 80th floor. Jarvis informed me to check back in three weeks to see when Tony might need my assistance again." The eye roll that accompanied was probably more dramatic than it needed to be. But Darcy was feeling a little dramatic at the moment.

"Oh, well, I suppose it makes sense, but that sort of puts a crimp in our plans." Erik scratched his head, while the look on Jane's face said she'd finally caught what was going on. Or perhaps she was listening the whole time, but simply didn't care until it was relevant to her, and particularly to her research.

"Three weeks?! No. I need access to some large, immovable equipment for some tests that Stark has on the 90th floor. I am on the verge of something here. The energy spikes are coming fast and furious now, I need to know what it is. I'm going to talk to him." And without another word, Jane was out the door.

"Good luck!" Darcy called after, not really minding whether her friend heard her or not, her her feet still up on the desk.

Erik kind of gave her a look, like he wanted to say or ask something, but only shook his head and went back to the charts.


	17. Jane

Jane reached the 80th floor and Jarvis spoke. "I'm sorry, Dr. Foster, but you may not proceed any further. All higher levels have been placed on restricted access. Would you-"

Jane cut Jarvis off, "I heard, Jarvis. Just get Tony for me. Tell him I want to actually speak to him, in person. I'll wait in the hall here for him."

"I will see what I can do, Dr. Foster."

Jane was about to step off the elevator when she stopped, "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Dr. Foster?"

"Tell Stark if he's not down here in five minutes, I'm calling Thor."

"Yes, Dr. Foster." Jane stepped into the hall of the 80th floor to wait, and the elevator closed.

Within five minutes, Tony was stepping out of the elevator. "Jane, how nice to see you, what can I do for you?" He had a trademark Tony Stark smile on.

"I need equipment you have on the 90th floor. Equipment that can't be moved, equipment that you promised when I came here would be available to me anytime. I've got energy spikes that are not normal. Something is happening. In case Thor didn't tell you, but even Heimdall thinks there's something going on, but he's having trouble seeing it. It could be big, it could be vital to know. And I need access to that equipment now. I'd planned to start some observations tonight once I finish charting the data I have."

Tony shifted, "I actually hadn't heard. I'm sure it is important, but I really can't let anyone up there."

"Whatever new toy you're testing can wait a week Tony. Unless it's going to tell me what I need to know about this slew of atmospheric disturbances, energy spikes, and a couple of strange anomalies that Erik and I are still tossing theories about, then it's not as important." Jane was tiny, but she could be scary, speaking fast and loud, and getting as in Tony's face as was possible for such a short person.

"There must be another facility nearby that has what you need that I could get you to." Tony had his hands up, he had no problem putting Jane and Erik, and anyone else they wanted, on a Quinjet to anywhere they wanted. He had no doubt that if Jane was this adamant something was happening, it was something he wanted to know about too, but he still couldn't give her access. The smaller the group that knew the better. Technically, Thor was given access, but Tony wasn't sure that anyone had actually told Thor anything about Steve's old buddy, or the project to bring the guy in and try to help fix him. It was a very limited circle and not everyone in it even knew all that much.

"Any facility with that kind of equipment is either a major university with a waiting list five months long to use, or is funded by the government, a private corporation, or both, and are highly restricted on their access." Her hands were on her hips and she had Tony almost back against the wall.

"But if I could get you access, by say, Monday, at another facility, for, well, how long do you need?" He'd started with an index finger up, and ended with his head cocked to the side.

"Preferably a few weeks so I can track changes and patterns over a span of time, provided nothing huge happens that would shift focus on the research during that time. And the closer the facility the better. As a lot of the activity seems to be highest on the East Coast."

"Okay, give me, two hours. I'll call you in your office and let you know."

She narrowed her eyes at him a moment, then huffed out a breath, "fine, two hours. Any longer and I call Thor and have him break me into the 90th floor, got it."

"Got it." Tony pinched the front of his shirt and tugged it in and out a few times to get a little air in. "Was that good for you? Cause it was good for me."

Jane just rolled her eyes and got on the elevator headed back down to her lab, Tony chuckling softly before the doors closed.


	18. What Do I Do?

After about an hour and a half, while Jane and Erik charted their data from the last few weeks, and Darcy input some data into the computer models, the phone in Jane's office rang. Jane answered it on the second ring. "I hope you have a solution for me, Stark."

Jane was quiet a moment, nodding, making a few affirmative sounds, Darcy could only hear Jane's side, "that sounds like it will work... When?... I suppose... And?... okay... They are going to give me more than a couple of days, right?... That would be great, actually... just us?... okay... good... Thanks." And then she hung up.

"So, he got us time somewhere?" Erik clapped his hands together, hoping so.

"Yes, apparently Stark has a lot of pull with MIT. Even with their semi-classified facility. We get four weeks of access. With the holidays coming there was a little less demand than usual, and apparently they were kind of excited to hear we wanted to do some research with their equipment."

"That's great, when do we go?" Darcy had looked up and had to smile a little at the grin on Erik's face when he asked the question. It was amusing to see a sixty something man grin like a kid in a candy store.

"Tomorrow morning. So it doesn't set back our timetable any more than a day." Jane actually did look fairly pleased with herself.

"So what should I be packing?" Darcy didn't really know what to expect from such a place.

"Oh, um, just Erik and I are going. Because of the semi-classified nature of the facility, you kind of have to have a doctorate to get in, or at least be working on one. But, it means you get four weeks free. Stark said you might as well give them an extra week also." Jane shrugged as she moved back to keep running her data. 

"Wait, what am I supposed to do? I still have rent and stuff." Darcy had forgotten what was on her computer and was sitting straight up watching Jane.

"You'll still be paid. Go see your mom for Thanksgiving or something. Or you keep saying how you never get enough time to actually see New York and you haven't even been to Central Park yet, well now you can explore the city. Enjoy yourself for four weeks. We'll be back December seventh. And the eighth, you can check in again with Stark, see if he's done with his project." Jane wasn't even looking up anymore, simply speaking while working.

Erik looked at Darcy and shrugged, with a look that seemed apologetic. She supposed it wasn't the worst thing, a few weeks with no work, but still being paid. Maybe she could call her mom and see what was happening for Thanksgiving.


	19. Heading Home

Work went a little late, nearly 8pm, which was late considering Darcy had arrived around 8am. Normally she would have been pretty exhausted, but the fact that she had the next four weeks off seemed to get her body to work a little overtime without much complaint. Mostly just that little voice in the back of her head that occasionally reminded her she wasn't all that important. Everyone in the building had no use for her for four whole weeks. On her break she'd stopped down into threat assessments to see if Steve was around, but the assistant had said he was unreachable, and it was unknown when he would be available. Darcy thought to also inquire about Sam, but the answer was the same. She figured that meant some kind of mission or something. She maybe would have hit up the gym by herself, take out some of her frustrations on the punching bag, except the gym with the little room for them was on floor 81, which meant restricted access, and she couldn't go there. Maybe the other lower gym had punching bags too, but she'd never been in there to find out. And she didn't feel like venturing there for the first time tonight, so home she went.

Riding the train with her iPod on, mostly staring out the windows, even when there wasn't much to see. Somehow the ride seemed longer than usual, even though it really wasn't. As she headed from the platform to the street, she tucked her earbuds away and slipped her hand into her bag and held onto her taser. That was how she always walked home from the station, it wasn't that far, but it wasn't the best neighborhood. Not terrible, but definitely sketchy, particularly after dark. During the day, walking from her building to the station in the morning felt reasonably safe, there were always people about and cars driving by. But after dark there were less people on the sidewalks and less cars on the street. She had heard gunshots just down the block from her building on several occasions in the eight or so months she'd lived there. She also knew there was a fair deal of theft, robbery, and minor assault, somewhat regularly in the neighborhood, especially along the main roads where the businesses were. Whenever she walked at night, she did so, with her taser concealed, but at the ready, and always turned off her iPod so she had full use of her senses.

Once inside, she checked her mail before heading up. Again, she'd gotten her neighbor across the hall, Craig's, mail. It was all junk this time, and since he'd moved out before the end of October, she tossed it when she got to her apartment. Several days ago she'd had to put one letter outbound in her box with the address circled and 'Moved' written on it. She did wish the mail carrier wouldn't mix their mail so often though. It only seemed to happen with her across the hall neighbor, not with any of her neighbors on the lower floors.

Darcy checked her phone as she flopped down on her couch and found a text from Jane, "Erik said I should check on you. Are you going to be okay? I would have brought you if I could, but it's restricted, and I really need to do these tests and observations with this equipment. It's much more sensitive than anything I built myself."

"I'm fine, Jane, it's okay. Like you said, I keep talking about never getting to see the city, now I can do that. And maybe my mom wants to see me for Thanksgiving or something. I mean, who complains about paid time off?" It didn't sound too bad, but Darcy maybe was feeling the lonely setting in already.

It was a couple minutes before her phone buzzed, "alright. You can text me if you want, I might only get to replying once a day, since I'll be busy, but I'll check my phone once a day at least."

"Thanks Jane, have fun with your research. :)" She did smile a little, she knew Jane would be having the time of her life, spending four weeks soaking in cutting edge research. And Darcy did hope she'd come back with some answers to whatever this weird stuff going on was, maybe then she'd start being able to get a good night's sleep again. Because ever since Halloween, Darcy had been having some really strange dreams.


	20. On the Same Page

Jane had left with Erik first thing that morning, in a chauffeured vehicle, provided by Tony. Thor had the general location of the facility Jane was to be working at, as he was going to stop in periodically, both to see her and to check on her findings. He meanwhile was spending most of his time asking around Asgard, trying to form a real theory on what was going on. He was at The Tower to see Jane off, and figured he'd hang around a little, see what else was going on, catch them up on what was happening. Given he'd been busy, and his fellow Avengers seemed a little secretive about something the last week, he was curious.

When Thor got off the elevator on the upper floors, it seemed somehow quieter, yet tenser than it usually was. He saw a group congregated in the lab area, finding Bruce, Steve, Sam, and someone he didn't know there. "Hello, friends! The mood of the building is different. Who is this?"

Bruce and Sam both nodded at Thor's greeting, and let Steve handle the rest. Steve nodded also before speaking, "Thor. This is my old friend, Bucky. I knew him growing up. He was taken prisoner and used by Hydra as a weapon. After Shield fell and Hydra's deep ties into it were exposed, he escaped, and I found him. We're making sure he's okay."

"Ah, any friend of Steve, is a friend of mine then." Bucky was sitting on the exam table, legs hang over the side, as was his usual pose, unless Bruce or one of the other doctors needed him to do something else. Thor reached and hugged Bucky, which Bucky was not expecting. It was sort of a big, though not long, bear hug. Bucky almost laughed, and the hint of smile lingered for just a moment on his lips.

"Hi." Bucky sort of patted Thor's side before he had pulled back again. Bucky nodded and saw Bruce smiling, while Sam laughed.

"Is this why the upper floors are on restricted access?" Thor looked around at everyone.

"Yes, no one else can know. It's only us, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Maria, Pepper, and a couple of other doctors Tony brought in who know Bucky is here. And it needs to stay that way for a while. Because of his association to Hydra, some people may not trust him, he was brainwashed to kill people. But it's not who he is." Steve had wanted to explain it to everyone himself, though he hadn't gotten to in every case. Clint heard mostly from Nat. Pepper was of course told by Tony, as was Maria. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but you've been out of the building so much."

"Quite alright, Steve. I have had worries of my own, which I need to share now as well. Jane has gone to collect data on energy spikes and spacial distortions that have been happening around the eastern region for weeks now, that are not accounted for by my travel, but are similar in nature. I'm concerned that there could be another Asgardian on Midgard, however, Heimdall can not see, which is not like him. His vision is usually so clear. He is still searching, but I have been searching as well." Thor was chasing every cluster of energy spikes, or strange anomaly, as well as searching Asgard for answers, while also sort of avoiding his father.

"How long has that been going on?" Bruce's scientific curiosity kicking in. Sam simply standing back, arms crossed, listening in.

"Over a month. Though Jane believes the activity level is increasing." Thor shifted, tucking some hair behind his ear. Using the terms Jane always used for what was happening, since he figured those were what would make sense to the rest of them.

"Why isn't she doing her research here?" Steve had wondered for a moment if Thor's thing could be connected to his strange experience at Halloween, but if it was ongoing and had been happening prior to it, then he wasn't sure. But he did wonder why the research wasn't happening here, Tony had seemingly every kind of equipment.

"Because these floors have been restricted, because of your friend, I guess. So she wasn't able to work here. Tony got her access somewhere else. I hope it will help my search for answers. Because if there is a rouge Asgardian here, there is likely trouble to follow." Most of the people of his world were good people, and most likely didn't even think much about Midgard. There were some though, that certainly might find use in toying with the Earth or it's people. Thor just needed to narrow that list down.

"No shit, after what your brother did." Bruce was more than a little jumpy, still, after the whole Chitauri mess, at the thought of Loki or someone else like him messing around on Earth.

Thor shook his head, a flash of sadness in his eyes for a moment. He knew the others didn't think much of Loki, all they had known from him was pain. Thor couldn't blame them, and he had trouble trusting Loki in recent years. He stroked the braid in his hair, that he'd twined with a strand of Loki's, something he had done after Loki died. "That is the sort of thing I hope to prevent from happening again."

"Speaking of which, Point Break, how is it I only heard about this yesterday, from your girlfriend, when she needed my equipment?" Everyone looked to see Tony paused in the doorway to the lab.

"I mentioned the work to you weeks ago. Your response was good, good, keep me updated." Thor waved his hand in the air as he quoted Tony's words, as it had been the gesture he had used.

"Was I working on something?" Tony proceeded to stroll into the room.

"Yes-"

"Then it doesn't count." Tony reached into a bag of dried fruit he had and popped some in his mouth as he circled the group. Everyone rolled their eyes at that one, except Bucky who didn't quite know what was going on.

"Well, now you know. I'll be here for the day, and then I'm going again to check on a possible lead."

"Care to tell us what it is?" Steve was curious, and did want to know what was happening, if they were going to have another potentially dangerous Asgardian trying to take over the world or something.

"Heimdall has been trying to see all of Midgard, search it. Seeing everyone is a tricky thing. But he believes he's spotted a haze in a location here on Midgard. I'm going to see if anyone is there. It may take a while, it covers a wide enough area, it will take me at least several days to stake out and search."

"Where is this place? Maybe we could help." Steve wanted to be here for Bucky, but if this was something serious, he could spare a few days to help Thor.

"Along the outskirts of this city. And thank you, but if there is any Asgardians hiding out here, no one else is truly equipped to handle them. Especially when I do not know yet who it is. When I have an idea who we might be dealing with, then I might be able to help inform you how to handle them." Thor wanted to protect his friends from undo harm. He knew Steve was strong, but without knowing who might be hiding out, or if it was even just one person, Thor did not want to send anyone else in to look. He could do it himself.

"I trust you'll be keeping us better informed from here out." Tony didn't like not knowing what was going on. How was he supposed to prepare for a situation when he didn't know it was a possibility. At least Steve had kept him alert enough with his 'hypothetical conversations' to let him prepare for the possible scenarios that might occur with his buddy, the former Winter Soldier. 

"I could say the same here." Thor wasn't really bothered by not being told about Steve's friend, he knew now, which was when it seemed like it was of importance to him. His eyes only narrowed in Tony's direction. "But I trust that if something went wrong here, I would have been informed then, as I would have done for you."

"I like to know what's happening. There must be something for us to do." Tony shrugged, but also shifted his tone, and for a moment wondered who was in charge in the bedroom, Thor, or Jane. He shook that thought aside for the moment though.

"Not yet. Soon though, I hope." Thor shifted tone when Tony did. There seemed to be a collective nod, and Thor would let them know when he'd tracked down some solid enough information that the Avengers might be able to aid him with.


	21. Asking Questions

It had been five days since they'd brought Bucky in, and things seemed to be going well. Bucky seemed calmer about being looked at and tested, and the doctors seemed to think they'd cracked Bucky's triggers and were beginning the process of removing them. In a few days, they wanted to test it for sure, and the team was prepping for that. Though the doctors also said getting his memories back would be harder, but that it seemed he had already been doing pretty well with that on his own. Once he felt safer and more secure, they thought that would help his memory progress deeper as well. That had also let Steve relax just enough to give his mind room to start thinking, and it was beginning to wonder about Halloween, perhaps especially after Thor mentioned some strange things happening the other day. Since Tony and Bruce were both there, Steve started asking questions.

Bucky was sitting as still as he could while Bruce did some more scans. Tony was hanging back, but observing, and Steve, as always, sat nearby, to be sure Bucky felt okay. "Hey, Tony, do you remember anything strange happening at the Halloween party?"

"No, why do you ask?" Tony's eyebrow went up.

"Well, I can't seem to remember that night well, and Sam said he woke up feeling a little run down, but didn't remember drinking that much." Steve spoke a little soft, and unsure, scratching his head as he did.

"What do you mean you don't remember the night that well?" Tony had been sitting, bouncing his leg, checking some read outs, but he stopped cold and looked at Steve when Steve spoke.

"I mean, I remember showing up to the party, heading to the bar to get a drink, seeing Sam, and then I remember Sam in my office telling me Natasha had eyes on Bucky the next day." His response was more clear, his posture straightening up a bit.

Bruce stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Steve and Tony, "I remember feeling a little agitated that night. I was talking for maybe an hour to Dr. Foster then then I started worrying I might not be able to keep a lid on The Hulk, and I actually came up here and spent the night in The Room. And I think the only reason I didn't Hulk out was that I left, came up here and spent the night meditating, and feeling like at least if I did Hulk out, I wouldn't hurt anyone in The Room."

"Why did neither of you tell me this sooner?" Tony was on his feet, pacing.

Bucky was sitting, quiet, not sure what the context of the conversation really was, so he stayed out of it, but he felt the tension level rise.

"I was occupied bringing Bucky in, I didn't think much about it the last week or so." Steve shrugged, "but now that he's here and things seem to be going well, and Thor mentioned strange activity, I started thinking about it again."

"I didn't know anyone else felt strange that night, or experienced anything strange. Sometimes I just feel that way, I thought it was just me feeling uncomfortable at a party. It happens." Bruce shrugged. He hadn't thought it was anything other than his own aversion to large crowds and having to socialize with people he didn't really know, not until someone else mentioned feeling something odd that night.

"I did feel a little fuzzy, kind of like back when I used to drink way too much and woke up after a real bender. But I wasn't really drinking on Halloween, I guess I wrote it off. Pepper said she felt a little off that morning, like she couldn't focus and the night before was bleary, but I didn't think much of it. Pepper can be kind of a light weight on the drinks and we did do a shot after a couple glasses of wine. I didn't bother to ask if anyone else felt strange. With Thor's info the other day, and this, I'm wondering." Tony was jotting things down as he spoke.

"Maybe we should be asking around the building, anyone who was at the party, if they felt or saw anything strange that night, and if they felt at all weird in the morning." Steve's posture was firm and straight as he was thinking.

"Definitely, get some data, and I can run numbers on the percentage of guests effected in what ways, if there was anything in common. Ask also if they drank, if they did, what they drank, and how much they recall drinking." Bruce then glanced to see Bucky just watching them all. "Sorry, um, let me..."

"Hey, sounds like weird stuff. I can go upstairs if you guys need to deal with other things." Bucky shrugged, he didn't want to be in the way. Though Steve mentioning not remembering a night concerned him a little, but he could ask Steve about that later.

"No, you stay, Bruce can keep going. I'm going to go call Pepper and Maria though to get copies of the guest lists and who actually came, and have Jarvis review the security feeds from the party for anything odd." Tony paused, nodded, then left.

Steve and Bruce glanced at each other a moment before Bruce resumed his scan on Bucky, leaving Steve to simply shrug at the questioning look Bucky gave him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed this story in the series. I'm working on the next one. I have several chapters already done. I'm not sure how much lag between now and when I'll start posting it, but hopefully not terribly long. I just want to get enough ahead, and enough sure of how I'm laying things out, that I feel secure and ready to start posting it. 
> 
> Thank you everyone who is continuing to read this series. It feels like the most ambitious of the stories I'm doing. So I hope it continues to be fun, and interesting. :)


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